FACTBOX-NY Harbor oil recovery trips; substation vexes Hess refinery

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Fri, 9 Nov 2012 03:42 GMT

Author: Reuters

(Updates with Hess Corp) Nov 8 (Reuters) - New power outages tripped up New York harbor's slow recovery from Hurricane Sandy on Thursday, while the smaller of the oil trading hub's two refineries said it would be unable to resume operations until a local substation had been repaired. As fuel shortages and long queues continued to plague the New York City and Long Island areas, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued an order on Thursday rationing gasoline, following New Jersey in imposing odd-even rationing that has helped temper tempers in the state. Bloomberg announced the order a day after an unseasonable nor'easter covered New York city with up to 6 inches (15 cm) of snow. The storm knocked out power to more than 46,000 customers in areas hit by Hurricane Sandy last week. Hess Corp said it had completed post-Sandy assessments at its 70,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Reading, New Jersey refinery, but was unable to set a time frame for restarting the plant due to local repairs needed by the local power authority. On Thursday, Motiva Enterprise, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Aramco, resumed loading from gasoline and diesel racks at its Sewaren, New Jersey terminal. However, its three terminals in New Jersey and New York remained shut with no estimates given for when they are likely to resume operations The Phillips 66 -owned 238,000 barrel-per-day Bayway plant in New Jersey will likely be shut for another two to three weeks as repairs are carried out, primarily on electrical equipment damaged by saltwater. Some 28 percent of gas stations in the New York Metropolitan area did not have gasoline available for sale on Thursday, down from 38 percent on Wednesday, according to the Department of Energy's data arm. KEY DEVELOPMENTS ON THURSDAY: * HESS CORP said it still does not have a time frame for restarting its 70,000 bpd refinery in Port Reading after completing an assessment of refinery equipment, which is now on standby. "The local power authority ... advised that repairs will be needed to a local substation before sufficient power is available to support the refinery's start-up process," it said. "A timeframe for the refinery's restart will be determined once the full power requirement can be met." A brief power outage on Thursday forced it to stop marine and rack loading at Port Reading. The company said marine and rack operations at its Bayonne, New Jersey, terminal were still suspended on Thursday. Marine operations at its Newark, New Jersey, terminal also remained suspended. All other Hess terminals continued to operate. * New York City Mayor MICHAEL BLOOMBERG on Thursday ordered the rationing of gasoline sold in the city. * BLOOMBERG also waived the requirement that buildings and homes in New York City utilize heating oil with sulfur content of less than 0.15 parts per million, effective through Dec. 7. * MOTIVA ENTERPRISES restarted rack operations from its terminal in Sewaren, New Jersey terminal. * COLONIAL PIPELINE said its Linden, New Jersey, hub, the terminus of the 825,000 bpd pipeline network from the Gulf of Mexico, was not affected by the nor'easter. The company is shipping fuel to a few of the more than 20 customer terminals it serves out of Linden. * BUCKEYE PIPELINE said a terminal had a temporary power outage at Inwood, but continued operations on standby generators. Power has since been restored, the company said. KEY DEVELOPMENTS ON WEDNESDAY: * A NOR'EASTER blew into areas affected by Hurricane Sandy and dropped record snow in New York and New Jersey, complicating the energy network's recovery. * COMMERCIAL STOCKPILES of gasoline in the U.S. central Atlantic, which covers four states, including New York and New Jersey, slipped by only 310,000 barrels last week, government data showed. KEY DEVELOPMENTS ON TUESDAY: * MERCINI LADY, a 47,000-tonne clean oil tanker, was heading out of New York harbor after discharging off the southwestern shore of Manhattan, shipping data showed. BP had chartered the Liberian-flagged tanker to carry fuel from Texas to Montreal, but it was later diverted to the New York Harbor after the U.S. government authorized waivers to the Jones Act, allowing non-U.S. vessels to transit between U.S. ports. * KINDER MORGAN, which had resumed limited operations at its Carteret and Perth Amboy terminals in New Jersey on Monday, said about 238 barrels (some 10,000 gallons) of biodiesel leaked from its Carteret terminal into nearby Rum Creek and reached the Arthur Kill waterway. It said the spill was contained within a day of the storm. It has resumed limited marine operations at Carteret and hopes to do so soon for Perth Amboy and Staten Island. KEY DEVELOPMENTS ON MONDAY: * NUSTAR ENERGY LP said it had re-established "limited" pipeline and barge deliveries at its Linden, New Jersey, marine and storage terminal. It previously said the 4.1-million-barrel terminal was severely damaged by Sandy. * IMTT BAYONNE oil tank farm and terminal, which accounts for about a fifth of the harbor's capacity, was only half back to normal by Monday, although damage assessments found that the majority of the facility's piers were ready for use and there had been no oil leaks, according to co-owner Macquarie Infrastructure Co. It gave no time frame for restoring full operations, but said IMTT would work through the week - including with relevant authorities - to return to full operations. * PHILLIPS 66 said it expects to resume "normal operations" at its 238,000 bpd Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, in two to three weeks. The plant has been shut since Oct. 29 and sources said it appeared to sustain serious damage to the electrical equipment after being flooded by Sandy's 14-foot storm surge. Phillips also confirmed it spilled some 7,700 gallons of fuel. Its terminal at Tremley Point, New Jersey, is expected to be operating at a limited capacity by the end of November. Phillips 66 also said it restored the refinery's capability to pump existing refined product inventory to the terminal, repaired the refinery's marine dock to receive barge shipments of fuel and made arrangements with third-parties to supply fuel to the refinery and terminal through pipelines and marine transport. * BUCKEYE PIPELINE said its Linden line was able to receive fuel from all existing locations and that Colonial Pipeline, Harbor Pipeline and Kinder Morgan's Carteret terminal had all resumed operating into Linden. * COAST GUARD removed restrictions along the Arthur Kill waterway, which separates Staten Island from New Jersey, as long as vessels move slowly along its waters, a Coast Guard agent said. EAST COAST REFINERIES: COMPANY PLANT CAPACITY STATUS (bpd) PBF Energy Delaware City, 190,000 Operations normal. Delaware PBF Energy Paulsboro, New 180,000 Operations normal. Jersey Hess Corp Port Reading, New 70,000 On standby. Unable to resume operations until local utility Jersey completes repairs to substation, Hess said on Nov. 8. No time frame for resuming full operations Philadelphia Philadelphia, 330,000 Company said on Nov. 2 it would be back to normal schedules Energy Solutions Pennsylvania that weekend after delays in crude deliveries. Monroe Energy Trainer, 185,000 All units running normally after turnaround, full rates seen Pennsylvania within several days. Phillips 66 Linden, New Jersey 238,000 Shut down. Phillips 66 said on Nov. 5 it is likely to be two-three weeks to restart. Imperial Oil Ltd Sarnia, Ontario 121,000 Returning to normal service as of Oct. 31 after power outage. NEW YORK HARBOR OIL TERMINALS STILL SHUT BY SANDY: COMPANY CITY STATE CAPACITY (bbls) Update Date Hess Bayonne NJ 11/6/2012 Hess Newark* NJ 11/6/2012 Motiva Newark NJ 1,113,000 10/31/2012 Phillips 66 Tremley Point** NJ 11/3/2012 Motiva Brooklyn NY 10/31/2012 Motiva Long Island NY 222,000 10/31/2012 * Rack operations normal. Hess owns 20 terminals with an aggregate storage capacity of 21 million barrels in its East Coast marketing areas. ** Phillips 66 said it expected the Tremley Point terminal to resume limited operations by the end of November. TERMINALS WITH REDUCED OPERATIONS: Colonial Pipeline Linden NJ Open, commercial power 11/4/2012 back, serving 8 terminals IMTT Bayonne NJ 16,000,000 Half of the facilities are 11/5/2012 fully operational Motiva Bridgeport CT 1,290,000 Open with reduced 11/4/2012 operations Hess Groton CT 812,185 Process of restarting 11/3/2012 Hess Edgewater, NJ Resumed as of Weds 11/8/2012 Hess Woodbridge, NJ Resumed as of Weds 11/8/2012 Hess Pennsauken NJ Process of restarting 11/3/2012 Kinder Morgan Carteret, NJ 7,833,080 Generator power, limited 11/5/2012 operations/shipments; marine ops resumed Kinder Morgan Perth Amboy, NJ 3,543,388 Generator power, limited 11/5/2012 operations/shipments; marine ops seen soon Kinder Morgan Staten Island, NJ 2,959,700 Generator power, limited 11/5/2012 operations; hopes to resume marine ops soon NuStar Energy Linden, NJ 4.1 mln bbls Restored "limited" pipeline 11/05/2012 and barge deliveries TERMINALS REPORTED OPEN BY COMPANIES COMPANY LOCATION STATE CAPACITY UPDATE AS OF Kinder Morgan Philadelphia PA 11,878,462 11/4/2012 Magellan Midstream Wilmington DE 2,842,000 11/4/2012 Magellan Midstream New Haven CT 4,000,000 11/4/2012 Motiva New Haven CT 1,600,000 11/4/2012 Motiva Baltimore MD 1,100,000 11/4/2012 Motiva Fairfax VA 360,000 11/4/2012 Motiva Richmond VA 210,000 11/4/2012 Motiva Providence RI 1,458,000 11/4/2012 Motiva Sewaren NJ 5,000,000 11/8/2012 NuStar Energy Paulsboro NJ 90,800 11/4/2012 NuStar Energy Virginia Beach VA 40,000 11/4/2012 NuStar Energy Dumfries VA 11/4/2012 NuStar Energy Piney Point MD 5,403,000 11/4/2012 NuStar Energy Andrews AFB MD 11/4/2012 NuStar Energy Baltimore MD 832,000 11/4/2012 Phillips 66 Riverhead NY 11/4/2012 Hess Brooklyn NY 11/4/2012 BP Carteret NJ 1,445,000 11/4/2012 Hess Perth Amboy NJ 11/6/2012 Hess Roseton NY 11/6/2012 TERMINALS REPORTED OPEN BY DOE: Global Partners Inwood NY 11/4/12 Global Partners Newburgh NY 11/4/12 Global Partners Oyster Bay NY 11/4/12 Castle Port Morris Bronx NY 846,000 11/4/12 Gulf Oil New Haven CT 11/4/12 Northville Industries Port Jefferson NY 11/4/12 Schildwachter Oil Bronx NY 11/4/12 Buckeye Terminals, LLC Linden + NY 4,000,000 11/4/12 Inwood Carbo Industries, Inc. Inwood, Long NY 5,900,000 11/4/12 Island OTHER TERMINALS IN NEW YORK HARBOR AREA: COMPANY LOCATION CAPACITY STATUS Center Point Terminal Company New Jersey, NY Harbor 1,018,300 Unknown CITGO Petroleum Corp. Linden, NJ 3,669,250 Unknown Getty Terminals Corp. New Jersey, NY Harbor 1,018,300 Unknown Getty Terminals Corp. Bronx, NY 23,000 Unknown Gulf Oil, Limited Partnership Linden, NJ 568,374 Unknown Lorco Petroleum Services New Jersey, NY Harbor 476,190 Unknown Metro Terminals Corp. Brooklyn, NY 207,000 Unknown Sprague Energy Corporation Long Island, NY 80,263 Unknown Sunoco Logistics Partners, LP New Jersey, NY Harbor 505,457 Unknown (Reporting by Selam Gebrekidan, Joshua Schneyer, Janet McGurty, Edward McAllister and Jonathan Spicer in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Jim Marshall, Andre Grenon, Leslie Adler and Phil Berlowitz)

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